By Carol Moeller —
One reason Democrats keep winning in California is because our party is run not only from Democratic headquarters in Sacramento, but also by thousands of elected members from all parts of the state. The governing body of the California Democratic Party elects roughly a third of its members from Assembly District elections held in January in every odd-numbered year. Each of California’s 80 Assembly Districts elects 14 delegates, 7 women (or those who self-identify as female), and 7 who do not self-identify as female (this nomenclature is made to avoid having to specify each of the LGBTQ+ gender associations). This represents politics at a very grassroots level and gives the party incredible diversity, lending voice to just about every cause in California. Historically, elections had been in-person events, with candidates making speeches at the election meeting itself. Covid changed all that, so in 2021 we had only mail-in ballots. This year, the party offered a hybrid system, with mail-in ballots as well as in-person voting, primarily on Jan 21 and Jan 22 in the 66th AD (though this year voting for 66th AD candidates could take place in any AD election meeting in the state). All ballots in the state are alike. Each ballot is simply a Scantron with numbers only (no names), and if 66 is marked in the AD section, then the bubbled-in numbers in the candidate section correspond to the list of candidates running in the 66th district. Although the timeframe for requesting mail-in ballots was only from Dec 12 to Dec 31, these ballots may be returned through Jan 31. As a result, the results of these elections will not be known until sometime in February.
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